Many honor her handiwork: Sister Margaret Graziano's help and art therapy for inmates are praised.

By Bill Bishop
The Register-Guard

In the disciplinary unit at the Lane County Jail on Friday, Sister Margaret Graziano, 86, sat at a hard steel table with John Pennington, who - by his own admission - has been in and out of the place for half his life and can't remember the last time he had a visitor.

She gave him a smile and asked about his injured wrist. They chatted and she shook his hand before continuing her rounds - visiting inmates who asked that she bring them a Bible or drawing paper, or just sit with them to talk or to pray.

Sister Margaret Graziano (left) meets with inmate John Pennington in one of the cell blocks of the Lane County Jail during her regular morning rounds. After 30 years of volunteering at the Lane County Jail, Graziano has earned the most prestigious national award in the corrections field.